Does Australia have it right????

[rubber chicken]

What a load of crap! Some people just don't get it and it is best to let their own words hoist them on their own Petards! Well said! LOL
BTW: YOU NOW HAVE IT ALL, BE HAPPY!

Oh! Ok then, must be different 'halves' from yours

[The Publisher]

Remember everyone, attack the message, not the messenger.

And if someone here does not follow that protocol, the reason for that breakdown in etiquette clearly will be do to the failed policies of the Obama administration. Same goes for the mosquito bites I have received this week. If Obama had just come up with good mosquito abatement policies, we wouldn't have these issues.

[hbh2oguard]

Lets put it a little simpler but lets talk about money instead of the quality of the earth because we all know republicans are all about the money and this argument might make strike a note. Use less energy(conserve)= more money in your pocket to spend on scuba= happy me= happy earth. So what's there to lose, everyone wins!!! Also I'm not fully opposed to nuclear energy but I don't want it in my backyard nor does anyone else. So it's not going to happen.

[shinek]

Some interesting points being made and I'm having a slow day so thought I'd just chip in as well. By the way, the basic principles of conservation and improving efficiency are fundamentally sound, as long as the underlying costs are acceptable and I’m all in favour of the proposed mosquito abatement policy!

The true cost of newer technology (e.g. solar panels), including direct, indirect, running costs and ultimate disposal/recycling should be taken into consideration, the same with hybrid cars and other ways to become more efficient with our energy and money. However, if we don't do something purely because it doesn't appear to make direct financial sense right now, then we don't benefit from investment in that industry which improves efficiencies and costs going forward. Just about every technological development costs more than its worth, in the initial stages, but as economies of scale build, it generates a healthy return. Sooner or later we will run out of fossil fuels, that's just common sense, they are not an unlimited resource. So if we begin the move to "better" technologies today then we will see the costs of those technologies come down and efficiencies increase.

If the figures are correct, 300 years to recoup the energy it takes to build a solar panel today, just imagine how quickly we could improve that with a few billion invested in that industry. Look at the speed of technological progress in the other industries and use a little imagination as to what could be achieved.

I agree that nuclear power should be a part of the energy equation and had we not basically stopped development in that industry, primarily due to public safety concerns, I'm sure the technology would have moved on at a much faster pace. Similarly, “clean coal” technology is currently too costly and not yet good enough but, given some investment, it could provide energy for many years to come, without the negative impacts on the environment many are currently concerned about. I understand the NIMBY attitude, I don’t want a nuclear power plant in my neighborhood either, but then again, I also don’t want a coal fired plant, 100 giant wind turbines or a few hundred acres of solar panels. That just means we have to pay the infrastructure costs of getting the energy from the point of generation to where it will be used. How much are we willing to pay to have the power station “out of sight, out of mind”?

Unfortunately many in our business and political worlds are focused on the short term. In politics its all about doing things that will get me or my party elected at the next go around, at best that’s 4 or 5 years. In business terms its about the financial results, sometimes quarterly, certainly annual results. I believe we should be willing to look a little longer term and be willing to invest for a little further down the line.

Too often people disagree simply because they don’t want to agree. If one party says A then the other, automatically, says B just because they feel they can’t be seen to be agreeing with “the enemy”. No group has the exclusivity on good ideas, let’s share and discuss and agree the best way forward. A novel concept, I know, but it doesn’t seem a bad one to me.

OK, back to work now and to day-dreaming about our trip to Little Cayman in May.

[Papa Bear]

We have enough oil for HUNDREDS of years! We need to act now, these are choices people have been sold! It has nothing to do with the man, just the policy and he is personally why beyond slick willy! I am a free market economist and believe in Capitalism and this would have worked out like every recession! And yes blame wackos for the Mosquito thing as well, read Trashing the planet! Mark my words this administration will fail and bring all of us down! They will reach into your dive bag as well as your pocket. Freedom will be a word for nothing left to lose! If the Government has to subsidize it, it's a bad idea! The market will decide faster and with better results! Look up the "Great Depression of 1920" and learn something it lead to the "Roaring 20's"! Guess what it was worse than 1929 and the government did the right thing! Cut its size, laid people off, and let the free market pull us out of it! This is a socialist take over and Government now will be responsible for 40% of our GDP! Won't and can't work! Carter was only 24% and look how that went! EDUCATION! EDUCATION! There is no more common sense in the world, because of poor eduction! Thank you Liberals!

[Papa Bear]

Wait till you tell environmentalist we have to use hundreds of square miles of desert to put up panels! LOL as far as saving our way out, sounds like my wife at the department store! Doesn't work there either! With all she has saved me I should be a millionaire!

[hbh2oguard]

shinek I couldn't agree more! But back to the oil thing, we will never run out because places that were too remote and too costly will be drilled but oil is NOT renewable. A much bigger problem is that we will run out of an atmosphere! Currently, the ocean is a net sink of CO2 but increased CO2 leads to ocean acidification which will decrease the ocean's ability to absorb CO2 so more will go into the atmosphere which will effect the global climate. Also there is no such thing as clean coal, the "clean coal" facilities might be cleaner but coil is still a very dirty energy just like oil! The way papa promotes oil use you would think he was some rich Texan but lately oil has tanked better invest now because it will go up eventually.